美国文学选读.docx

Lecture 7 American Realism O. Henry The Era of Realism: The U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) between the industrial North and the agricultural, slave-owning South was a watershed in American history. The innocent optimism of the young democratic nation gave way, after the war, to a period of exhaustion. American idealism remained but was rechanneled. Before the war, idealists championed human rights, especially the abolition of slavery; after the war, Americans increasingly idealized progress and the self-made man. This was the era of the millionaire manufacturer and the speculator, when Darwinian evolution and the survival of the fittest seemed to sanction the sometimes unethical methods of the successful business tycoon. What Is Realism?: Realism is defined as the truthful treatment of materials. (William Dean Howells) Realism is not a camera picture. It gives form to experience by applying to a massive impression of life the techniques of selection, deletion and concentration. (American Literature, the Makers and the Making) A working definition of realism: 1) takes an interest in the details rather than the “story”; 2) attempts to reflect reality faithfully and recreate familiar everyday aspects of life; 3) prefers a straight-forward and matter-of-fact manner of narration; 4) focuses on common people, especially social underlings and their sufferings; 5) adopts a critical tone, exposing social ills and criticizing social injustice. Some quotations about literary realism:: Realism askew the traditional patterns of the novel. In part the rise of realism came as a protest against the supposed falseness and sentimentality of romantic fiction. Life, the felt, lacked symmetry and plot; fiction truthfully reflecting life should, therefore, avoid symmetry and plot. Simple, clear, direct prose was the desirable vehicle, and objectivity on the part of the novelist the proper attitude. Since selection is a necessary part of any art, select with a